ARGH!

Look - our child was abducted by aliens and returned to us somewhat changed.

It's been a rough couple of weeks. You've already heard about the day care and the house - now our jeep is leaking gas and the city of Grand Rapids wants back taxes on our house. Yikes.

So we found a new day care because I went online and found that a previous complant that a child had bruises had been brought up against our child care provider, that and the fact that she can never bother to snap all of his snaps on his onsies just proves to me a certain lack of attention to the details. Aaron and I thought it was important to get Ian out of there asap. I think we are going to like the new place but it cost us two weeks of day care to move him ($240) since our contract required that we give two weeks notice and we just wanted him out. The new place is on the outside of town in a big house where she has converted the walk out basement for daycare. She's willing to use clothe diapers and has a 3 to1 ratio, kids to providers. I feel like we are getting the best of a child care center and family child care. Most important I think Ian will be safe.

The girls moved out of the house with little or no notice and I thought about sticking them with at least 1/2 a months rent but then decided to just let them go. It's hard to be a landlord with empathy - bit of a conflict really. So we lose a months rent at the minimum and here we go with the showings and the decisions and and and...

So that brings me to the back taxes. I didn't realize we get a break on the property taxes when the house is our primary residence. Well when we moved I sent a letter to the City of GR giving them our new address for the water bill except it got forwarded to the assessors office as well. We then got a nice registered letter in the mail about auditing our property taxes for the year of 2005 and 2006. Thank god they only went for two years. (Those of you who may work for the city who read this blog can just keep this to themselves.) This is costing us about $1500 we don't have!!

Then there is the car. It's leaking gas and we're bringing it in today. Thank goodness we have Matt and Maria to lend us their second car for a couple of days. Whew. But who knows how much this will cost us.

I'm glad engineering has a healthy salary or I would never recover from going back to school! I keep telling myself it is only temporary and to keep it in perspective. After all I wouldn't be out of my house if I didn't have the great opportunity to go to school at UM.

Oh yeah and Ian has his first cold and he gave it to me. Next week has got to be better!!

Strangely enough, life is still good.

Ahhh...

Just further proof that my baby is the cutest baby ever! I have to figure out how to post a video or sound file to the blog so you can also witness that Ian is the smartest and strongest baby as well. No parental bias here!!

Stylin'

Ian: Look at me - I'm stylin' in new grey flannel overalls and a red onsie! My Grandma Mary, Auntie Whitney and Mom had a day of shopping at the outlet mall and even though Mom said she was just going to get herself and Dad some new jeans, most of the new clothes were for me.

Mom: It's hard to resist the cute little man clothes at all the children's stores. Mary and me bought the little guy a whole bunch of stuff - like he needed more clothes! I haven't had the chance to buy him anything previously so I had a lot of fun picking stuff out. He even got a little scout shirt and a pair of train engineer's overalls from Osh Kosh. I often practice retail therapy when my financial world comes crashing down. It's my way of showing faith that everything will be ok.

Rationalize Rationalize...

Mamma Said There'd Be Days Like This

Yesturday was a doosy. I'm not sure where to start. I had a presentation yesturday and although stressful, I think it went well. Shortly before I was to present I got a phone call from the Michigan day care regulating department to ask me some questions about the incident that happened at the day care that Ian stays in while I am at school. My response was "WHAT INCIDENT!". The woman responded by telling me that a baby stopped breathing and was rushed to the hospital where she is still in a coma. I was shocked and just about dropped the phone to run and get Ian who was in day care at the time. The woman went on to tell me everything she knew and it seems that the woman that watches Ian did everything she was supposed to do and it seems that it was of no fault of hers. IT SEEMS. Thats hard - what do we do? For now I think Ian will stay just because there were only two places that were accepting infants and the other was no good. She did everything she was supposed to do so I will assume that it was through no fault of the provider. So I got this call an hour before I was to present. My shoulders were somewhere by my ears when I was done with the presentation. Then I am driving home from picking up Ian and Aaron and before I could get the car parked, Alan calls me to say that our house has been broken into, again. Yes, this is the fifth incident since we bought the house in '03. It isn't such a bad neighborhood - at all. The police think that it is one perpetrator who has targeted our house as an easy pick. So the girls that we were renting to are moving out. After all this is the second time that they have been broken into in two months. I'm letting them out of their lease because I don't think that they are safe there. What if they are home next time something happens? But this leaves me in a quandry. Do I rent again or do we try to sell again... how do we pay our mortgage and rent... where will the money come from? Just one more semester of no income, I just need to get through the next four months. Thank god everyday isn't like this.

Talking

This past week Ian has learned to "talk". He spends long periods of time chatting to us about all sorts of things. Just lots of noise but you can tell he sure likes the sound of his own voice and it's the beginnings of his attempts at speach. It's a lot of fun to watch and listen to. He also likes to open his mouth wide and stick out his tongue in the process - I don't know where he would have got that from :-) This week he has also gotten to be much more self sufficient. Not that he is changing his own diapers or anything, but he likes to just hang out on a blanket and play with his toys for extended periods of time and doesn't get bored or fussy. Someone gave us a dragonfly toy at a shower that he just loves. He's a great kid and I'm so grateful for that. School and parenting is hard and I don't know if I could have handled a colicky son.

We got hit with an ice storm on Sunday night and today the sun came out and it was just beautiful. Ian and I were up for the dawn and with every moment the sun would light up more ice. It was like the whole world was made of crystal. Whoever is in charge sure does this weather thing just right some days. The photo was taken off of our balcony this morning with the sun just lighting up the backs of the trees. We got lucky that we live in a big apartment complex but you would never know it because we look out onto a wetlands. Nice, huh?

Big, Strong and Cute

Two days ago I set Ian down on his blanket for some belly time and he immediately rolled onto his side - he was only a half inch from the tipping point to rolling over. Amazing! When did he learn this?? Everyday he does something new. It's crazy how fast he's growing. At the same time I hardly notice it because I am with him everyday. I go back to school full time today and Ian goes to Day Care. This is hard for me. One part of me is excited to start using my brain again and getting back to my old life - the other is heart broken that I will be away from him everyday. Yesturday evening Ian woke up screaming from what I can only assume was a nightmare. I tried everything before just holding him tight in my arms did the trick. Will the stranger that is taking care of him now be able to soothe him? Will she even bother? Will he be the subject of some alien experiment? Will I not be around when he first rolls over? These are the questions that bring me to tears. I think I am doing the right thing for him by finishing my degree so I can get a job and his daddy can maybe go part-time to take care of the little guy. I don't know. I just hope I made a good choice and he will be happy and safe.

Long Time No Post

I was reminded by a faithful reader that it had been almost a month since I had posted to my blog. Sorry about that. All of you parents out there are knowingly smiling and nodding your heads at this point, I'm sure. With the holidays, trying to find daycare, getting ready for school, trying desperately to get through my to do list, and of course relishing my adorable baby, I haven't had much time to blog. Ian is just crazy cute. He's all smiles and charms everyone wherever we go. It is sometimes time consuming to go to the store because people stop me to look at the baby. He's growing like a weed - at his 2 month check up he came in at 25 in long and 13.5 lbs. That's 97th percentile for length and 83rd for weight. WOW - he definitely has some Windsor genes in there. Aaron and I are loving every minute of parenting. Yes, I even cherish most of those late night nursing sessions.